Visual Diary

March 1, 2014March 1, 2014

Prisoners asked to write letters to their young selves

I recently came across a series of photographs by photographer Trent Bell in which he took portraits of several prisoners facing long sentences and then asked them to write a letter to their younger selves. The images are truly heart-warming and the prisoners have really dug deep to write their true feelings which could leave some people a little teary eyed. Apparently Bell was inspired to do this after a friend got sent down for a long time, I feel it is a great way to see a different side to the people who we really we ought to fear. One woman in the video below, for me put it perfectly,

‘Yes they did crime and they need to pay for it, but the bottom line is they are still individuals and they are still human’.

During the video of the exhibition people are truly moved and feel genuine sympathy for these men instead of dwelling on the crimes that don’t represent everything they are. The saddest thing for me is that after writing this these people are still sat doing their time. Life moves on without them.